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My family's life in my childhood was made a hell by the very reason we bought our tiny 1950s suburban home in the first place: the expanse of public land behind our suburban block.
First the railway (Canadian National) edged its "reclamation yard" down behind our block from the 2 miles away where it had previously been. That meant that from dawn til dusk, we were subjected to the sounds of cranes lifting and dropping box cars to smash 'em up, rattling our windows and shaking our walls. Noise IS harmful, to people, not just the buildings they live in. But it wasn't just that ... the easiest way to dispose of unwanted old rolling stock is to burn it ... and this happened frequently, right behind our homes. But it wasn't the CNR doing it, noooo; it was those "kids with matches". And the massive clouds of black smoke fouling our air and the laundry on our lines just wasn't anything the govt. really gave a shit about.
Then came the motorcycles -- this was before "minibikes". They drove up and down the mile-long track through that public land, 40 feet from our bedroom windows, every night. Quite illegal, of course. A strategically placed cop, for a couple of hours for a couple of nights, could have dealt with it pretty effectively. But no, it was a "small crime", nothing the govt. needed to worry about. So my dad dreamed of stringing wire across the path, but contented himself with sometimes standing with the hose for an hour and watering the, uh, grass beyond our fence.
When I was an undergrad, my bicycles were stolen. Now granted, stolen bicycles are pretty hard for cops to do much about. But one of them had cost me a month's wages -- I was poor, but I was a bit vain, and that bike was my only transportation for work and school. It really was a bit "bigger" a crime than yer average shoplifting.
Such as the "pocket rocket minibikes" aimed at 12 year old boys. Cops dont have time to chase them down. Young drivers are a "small crime" anyhow.
And they're a perfect example of the "crimes" that kids commit that are really behavioural problems and come with the fact that kids aren't adults, and that really do need to be dealt with by adults to stop the kids from harming themselves or others by doing what just comes naturally to kids: defying and risk-taking.
And the best way to do that is of course prevention. And as you say, profit prevails over preventing harm.
Such as motorcycle mufflers that are designed to INCREASE the noise, not muffle it. Cops dont have time for this "small crime".
Even though my life is disturbed -- and I am harmed -- by noise like this and all the other illegal noise I am subjected to hourly, far more than by a lot of the other stuff they spend their time on.
Allow me to add, oh, the auto body shop on my corner that for years blatantly used illegal processes and substances for painting cars -- the fumes filled my bedroom -- and dumped its waste down the storm sewer. I was told that a complaint to the environmental health folks would be pointless, because their budget and staff had been gutted by the vicious Tory Ontario govt. of the day.
It isn't the cops, of course. It is our priorities.
I hear that NYC has banned car alarms. Yay, NYC! I wonder whether they'll be doing any enforcement ...
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